My district provides significant employment opportunities for public teachers, corrections officers, and college instructions, who for decades have joined together to collectively bargain for compensation, benefits, and working conditions. Unions are a hallmark of middle-class prosperity.

This is such an important issue for our state that I’ve joined a group of legislators, economists, business leaders, and citizens to explore the topic. We’ll be meeting at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Minnesota Discovery Center, 1005 Discovery Drive, Chisholm. I invite you to join us because we want to hear from everyone.

Governor Dayton implored that resources for our schoolchildren be approved in standalone legislation, but lawmakers did not listen. Had state lawmakers decided to allow taxing of foreign income repatriated to the United States, just like Congress did last year, it would have provided enough money to help our schoolchildren.